How does a government counterfeit?

The government counterfeits when they create money of thin air backed by no production and created by the printing press . === === In both the previous and current versions of American currency, there is strong evidence that a government was counterfeiting and circulating US currency. In the earlier case, the alleged perpetrator was Iran; in the later it was North Korea. In neither case was proof offered at the civilian level, although the US and Japan did in fact sanction North Korea for this. Government-level counterfeiting is nowadays a political tool.